Ever wonder why they call it Stud Poker? The term has numerous meanings that harken back to everything from carpentry to embroidery to male prowess, but most poker historians agree that the game got its name via the word’s relevance to horse breeding. In the 1860’s, a horse was a cowboy’s best friend and poker his favorite game. So it is no surprise that around that time a game called Stud-Horse poker began turning up. Folks liked the apparent simplicity of the game, and the ability to see so many of their opponent’s cards. In fact, by 1884, many saw it not as a legit form of poker, but as a criminal scheme. In July of 1884, The New York Times reprinted a letter from San Francisco’s police chief to his Board of Supervisors in which he wrote, “I wish to impress upon your honorable board the magnitude of the evil of this pernicious game. It fosters idleness, and tempts many young men of weak resolution to steal from their employers.” Public playing was soon banned out West, players arrested, trials held, and the newspapers covered it all. Over the following decade, the hyphen was dropped from the name and then the “horse” all together as the offending ritual became known simply as Stud Poker.
